Fantasy football lineup advice: Week 16 boom or bust
Fantasy Football – Tight End
Boom: Jacob Hollister, SEA vs. ARI
While Hollister has only broken the 10-point mark once in his past four games after a two-week stretch of a combined 39.9 fantasy points, he’s remained a staple in the Seahawks’ passing game. He’s seen an average of 6.1 targets per game since Week 9, and should be even more involved now that Josh Gordon has been suspended for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy.
You know the drill here. Tight ends against the Arizona Cardinals means fantasy points – and a lot of them. The Cardinals have allowed the most fantasy points from tight ends this season by a wide margin. They’re handing over a whopping 18.8 FPPG compared the second-worst team, their Week 16 opponent (Seattle), who’s ceding 15.4 per game. There’s no further explanation needed here.
Honorable Mention: Greg Olsen (CAR @ IND), Kyle Rudolph (MIN vs. GB)
Bust: Jack Doyle, IND vs. CAR
Although Doyle is now seeing all the snaps he can handle with Eric Ebron done for the year, that hasn’t exactly translated to the fantasy success owners had hoped for. He looked to be trending towards every-week-starter territory after dropping 19.3 fantasy points on 11 targets against the Titans in Week 13, but has since posted back-to-back games of under five points. The Colts’ offense as a whole has been largely unimpressive, which hasn’t helped his case either.
The Panthers may be abhorrent against the run, but one position they’ve still fared well at limiting is tight end. They come into Week 16 surrendering the second-fewest FPPG to the position behind only the Baltimore Ravens. With Brissett’s recent struggles and the Colts’ run-first mentality, this has the looks of another uninspiring week for Doyle.
Dishonorable Mention: Jason Witten (DAL @ PHI), Mike Gesicki (MIA vs. CIN)
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Sleeper: Cameron Brate, TB vs. HOU
As I previously mentioned, Winston is running out of options to throw the ball to. The combination of Perriman, Watson, Howard, and Brate will have to do some heavy lifting from here on out. Brate’s production has been extremely volatile this year, but after drawing seven targets last week, it’s possible he has nice day with Houston’s bottom-half D against TEs.